


Half of Something

by LikeASwitchInHeat



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Choose Your Own Ending, Fire Hazards - Not Just in their Hearts, Flirting, Friends to ?, M/M, Roommates, Strangers to Friends, college rhink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 03:30:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16846261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LikeASwitchInHeat/pseuds/LikeASwitchInHeat
Summary: Link knew he was a bit odd. A bit particular. A bit of an acquired taste. He wasn’t sure how someone that didn’t really know him would like having to live with him. And, as his college freshman roommate, this Rhett guy was in it for a whole year!





	Half of Something

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ssodangdark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssodangdark/gifts).



> Happy birthday to ssodangdark! Who wanted a slow burn rhink fic where they have their first meeting by being randomly assigned as college freshman roommates.

Link’s stomach sank when he entered his new dorm room. He had hoped to arrive early enough to beat his roommate. But it seemed he hadn’t gotten there early enough. There was nobody else in the room at the moment, but there was a heap of junk already piled onto the bottom bunk. 

Link sighed, and set his box of things on the floor. He couldn’t help his eyes wandering over the belongings of his new roommate. Link’s nervous stomach knotted itself tighter. There was an awful lot of sports stuff. Particularly, basketball stuff. Link had played a little soccer in high school, but it had been more for the social aspects than any display of athletic ability. He definitely hadn’t been part of the jock crowd. 

Not that the jocks had disliked him. Most people didn’t _dislike_ him. But most people also didn’t really know how to take him. Link knew he was a bit odd. A bit particular. A bit of an acquired taste. It was fine to be the wild card, or novelty personality at an event. But he wasn’t sure how someone would like having to live with him. Or how comfortable Link would be. Would he ever really be able to relax, or to be himself around this guy? Link had never even had a sibling to test the endurance of people’s tolerance for him. And this guy, this stranger, was in it for a whole year. Link wanted to make sure that he didn’t screw it up right off the bat. 

He continued to survey the scene. There was a Pulp Fiction poster on the waiting to be hung. Link felt his lips purse, and eyebrows knit together in frustration. Why hadn’t he bothered to see more movies? He should have studied up on some basic pop culture before going to college. It would have opened up more opportunities for conversation. His tension eased a little as his eyes settled on a shoebox of CDs. He instantly recognized some Lionel Richie albums. And... Merle Haggard? He couldn’t believe it. Maybe this guy was as much of an eclectic disaster-person as Link was. Maybe this was going to work out. 

Link nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of another voice behind him. 

“You must be Link!”

“Uh, yeah. I guess... I must?”

Link could hear the nervousness in his own voice. This guy was super intimidating. He must have been half a foot taller than Link. And Link wasn’t short! And good looking. Crap! Why did he have to go and be good looking? But his eyes... they were kind, and genuine, as he extended his hand out toward Link. Tall, good looking basketball stars didn’t have to look at people with the kind eyes that... Rhett? Link hoped he remembered correctly. Rhett with kind eyes, and cheeks made for smiling. 

“And you’re Rhett?”

“And we’re roomies! College roommates! Can you believe it. I’ve been waitin’ for this, man. Y’ever hear old folks telling stories about their ‘college days’, and they’ll say something like ‘and my ol’ college roommate’? That’s us, man! We are the ol’ college roommates!”

Link was taken aback by how much confidence Rhett seemed to have in their seconds-old bond. But if it was a foregone conclusion that they were gonna be lifelong pals, that certainly took some pressure off. Ah, the perks of determinism. 

“I guess we should unpack, and get started making some of those memories then, huh? I saw you had staked out the bottom bunk. I can see why, it would probably not be too comfortable for a guy your size to shimmy up to the top bunk on a regular basis.”

“Exactly. I hope you don’t mind.” 

Link decided to risk revealing his nosiness in favor of nurturing this early connection. “I like a lot of your music. I never would have guessed I’d be paired up with a fellow Merle Haggardenthusiast.”

“Are you freaking kidding me?” Rhett laughed, and it had to be the warmest sound Link had ever heard. “What are the chances?!”

Rhett fished out a CD player boombox from the pile of crap he’d lumped onto his bed, plugged it in, and put on one of the Merle albums.

Link was openly grinning by now, as Merle’s voice filled his soul. The nerves that had been gripping him all morning in anticipation of this moving day, and this meeting, had all but dissipated. How could he have warmed so quickly to this stranger, who was both so unlike himself, and yet so... complementary? The room was a disorganized mess, and he’d only known his cohabitant for a matter of minutes; but somehow it was already feeling like home. 

“Why in the world do you have _that_?” Rhett asked, gesturing to an iron sticking out from one of Link’s moving boxes. “You don’t seem like the ironing type.” Rhett smirked, and kinda ocularly pointed toward Links’s baggy t shirt and shorts. 

Link shrugged. “My mom must’ve thrown it in there. Maybe hoping I’ll mature, and start wearin’ something that needs ironing?”

“I don’t even think you’re allowed to have that in here. It’s probably a fire hazard.”

“Oh my goodness, you’re probably right.”

“I mean, if you were gonna bring something illegal, you coulda picked something a little more useful. Like a toaster oven, or hot plate or something!”

“What, you hungry, brother? I bet I could cook you up something nice with this iron! What is an iron, if not a hot plate for clothing?”

“Oh gosh,” Rhett said, with mock concern, “‘The Iron’ is as foreign an appliance to you as I had feared.”

“I’m serious!” Link giggled. “What do you think I could cook on this thing?” 

Rhett actually looked like he was considering Link’s ridiculous question. “Toast?”

“Easily.”

“And fry an egg on there to go with it?”

“Certainly.”

“A grilled cheese?”

“Doable. Without a doubt.”

“Quesadilla!”

“That would be no problem-o, amigo.”

Rhett was openly guffawing, and Link was living for it. 

“Can you imagine,” Rhett chuckled, “If we actually tried to do any of that stuff?”

“I could do it!” Link insisted. “You got some bread and cheese? Or a tortilla?”

If they were living in a cartoon world, a lightbulb would have appeared over Rhett’s head. “Actually... I do have a leftover slice of pizza in my backpack.” He cocked an eyebrow mischievously. 

“You what?!”

“Don’t judge! I’m a hungry man!”

“Okay, then. Grab your backpack-pizza, and I’ll fire up the griddle!”

Rhett retrieved a plastic wrapped slice of pizza from his backpack, and he and Link giddily waited for the iron to warm up. 

“All right,” Link announced, as if to an expectant audience, “It is time for the moment of truth. Rhett and Link answer that age old question... when it comes to this here iron... it hot plate?!”

Rhett snort-laughed, “I dunno, Link! Let’s see: Will It?”

Link set the hot iron down upside down and reverently lowered the pizza onto the hot surface. The moisture in the leftover, room temperature slice created an instant sizzle. 

“Do you have a... hair dryer?” Rhett asked. “I mean, you must with that stylish do.” He casually patted Link’s spiky puff of hair. 

“Okay, yeah... I do.”

“Plug ‘er in, and let’s attack this thing from both sides!”

Link scrambled to find his blow dryer. He plugged it in and turned it on high heat, aiming it at the shiny, congealed cheesy top of the pizza. 

“Okay,” Rhett laughed, shouting over the sound of the blow dryer. “Ummm... this doesn’t smell great, Link!”

It was about that time that some of the cheese had melted down onto the plate of the iron, dripping into the little holes of the plate. An overall burning smell began to give away their game. 

“Crap...” Link muttered, switching off the blow dryer, as Rhett reached out to unplug the iron. But it was too late, it wasn’t on fire, but it was smoking. And inevitably the fire alarm started blaring throughout the residence hall. 

—————

After the entire residence hall made their obligatory march outside while the source of the smoke was investigated (and subsequently confiscated), Rhett and Link found themselves being being detained in the resident assistants’ office. 

They sat across from one another at the small round table like a couple of kids in detention, while the RA on duty looked at them disapprovingly. “You guys,” Ellie said, exasperation plain on her face. “Were you going for some kind of record for making trouble? The resident director isn’t even here at the moment, so like... I don’t even know what to do with you!” 

Link looked down at his feet, and wondered what would happen to them. Surely they wouldn’t be kicked out? Or... his stomach ached to consider it, separated and re-matched with different roommates. 

“You guys can help me out by making signs for tonight’s icebreaker event. It’s going to be a root beer social in the lounge. Just put the event, location, and time. And... I don’t know, try to make it look fun?” She set some art supplies down between them in the center of the table and looked at them, not unkindly. “I know you weren’t trying to burn the place down, and I’m sure you won’t be in too much trouble. But this is literally my first day as an RA, and I don’t want Stevie thinking I’m not taking it seriously. So, it’s just really better if we wait for her to get back.” With that, she closed the door to the office, and left Rhett and Link to their task. 

“What do you think is gonna happen to us?” Link speculated aloud once they were alone. 

“Well,” Rhett began, seriously. “I think we are gonna make the best damn flyers the RD has ever seen. And once she sees how amazing and talented we are, she will view us as valuable members of this community, and be merciful in her sentencing.”

Link smiled at that. And reached for a piece of construction paper. Rhett had done so at the same time, and their hands brushed. 

“Oops.” Rhett said softly, kind of playfully. 

Link felt his cheeks redden as he muttered something vaguely apologetic. 

They resumed their crafting. Link focusing more on the details in making sure all information was accurate. Rhett adding some artsy and creative flourishes. 

“Ellie said to make them fun.”

Link nodded his acknowledgment that, yes, she had said that. He grabbed a white piece of construction paper, and sketched out a unicorn. He added some color with some of the markers, and threw some glitter on for good measure. He cut it out, and tacked it onto the flyer as a fun accent. 

“Nice!” Rhett immediately set to cutting out a cartoonish dragon. They continued to construct and decorate each flyer with different creatures. They carried on mostly in a comfortable silence, sometimes humming together; effortlessly falling into easy harmonies as they worked. 

Occasionally, their hands would brush against each other’s as they would go for the same color marker, glue stick, or pair of scissors. Link felt the tips of his ears tingle with embarrassment as, at one point, he discovered that the table-leg he’d be moving his foot against was actually a Rhett-leg. But Rhett hadn’t seemed to mind much, and they shared a good nervous-laugh over it. Before they knew it, every flyer had been fully ‘fun-ified’.

They were just finishing up when the RD walked into the office. 

“All right, guys. Ellie filled me in on the shenanigans from this morning. I really can’t even fathom what you were thinking. There’s a perfectly serviceable microwave in the common kitchen area of your floor!”

“We were just...” Link tried to think of how he could explain what it was they had been doing. It had made sense in the moment, but now he just felt stupid. He told Stevie as much. 

“I mean, it _was_ a pretty creative way to cook a pizza,” she said, not bothering to conceal her amusement. “And I do have a soft spot for creative types. Speaking of which, nice work with the flyers. You did a great job with all the... mythical beasts. But next time you feel like expressing yourselves creatively, can you please _not_ try to burn down my residence hall?” She gave a quick wink, as she added, “It makes me look bad.” 

—————

And with that they were free. Well, mostly free. They wound up doing more ‘community service’ helping the RAs hang their flyers. Then helping set up the root beer social. By the time they were finished, it was about time for the event to start. Other residents began to sheepishly drift into the lounge. Rhett and Link felt emboldened by their early relationship with the RAs, and took to greeting people and making introductions easily. 

Rhett and Link were virtually attached at the hip thought the evening. The only awkwardness between them had resulted from Link’s confession that he didn’t even really like root beer. Rhett looked scandalized by that information, and Link didn’t know how to tell him that that was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to his picky eating. 

Rumor had spread quickly about their pizza-ironing antics, and made them quite popular. Everyone seemed to know who these ‘partners in crime’ were. People were under the impression that they had known one another before college, and could not believe that they’d only met that morning. And to be honest Link could hardly believe it himself. His whole life, he had felt vaguely incomplete. Like he was half of... of something. And now, having met Rhett, he was starting to feel that other half filling in. Like there was this whole other side of himself he was never able to fully _be_ without him. He couldn’t stop the chill that shivered up his spine as it started getting late and Rhett had leaned down to ask him, “Think we should go home now?”

—————

By Link’s estimation, the day had been exhausting. He was looking forward to flopping onto his top bunk and getting some rest. 

But it immediately came to his attention that for Rhett, it wasn’t going to be so easy. They had never really finished unpacking their room. Not after the iron incident. And Rhett’s bunk was still completely covered in his belongings. 

“Ugh, I had forgotten about this mess.”

“Yeah, good luck with that!” Link teased. “I know I wouldn’t have the energy to deal with that right now. I’m beat.”

Neither one of them moved for a moment. Link was looking in the direction of the mess on Rhett’s bunk, but he wasn’t really looking at anything. He was focused on feeling the closeness of Rhett standing next to him. Feeling the static of the air between them. He swore he could move his pinkie the tiniest bit and feel Rhett next to him. It was like the small space between them was creating a vacuum that was sucking the air from Link’s lungs, leaving him breathless. He decided to break the silence with a joke. Or what he hoped sounded enough like a joke to not freak Rhett out, if he wasn’t... receptive. 

“I mean... I’d offer you to crash with me on my bunk, but I know you take issue with shimmying those long legs up to the top bunk.”

Rhett, seemingly subconsciously, licked his lips. 

“I’m sure I could manage... this once...”

Link’s heart was hammering in his chest. “And the beds are pretty narrow. You probably just barely fit on your own. And, I have to warn you, I’m a pretty reckless sleeper.”

Rhett smiled wickedly at Link. “This wouldn’t be the most reckless thing we’ve done today: We cooked a pizza with an iron, for cryin’ out loud.”

Link was not about to object a third time, and he led the way up the ladder.

**Author's Note:**

> @ssodangdark - I hope you like what I did with your prompt. I’m so glad that you’re writing your own version. Mine was kind of silly, but you have a far more unique/important story to tell, and I for one can’t wait to read it. Enjoy your day!!


End file.
